Mickey Finn

Delighted with the performance of this Toshiba DR420KU DVD recorder for several years. About a year ago, occasional "bad disc" messages (and the disc being recorded—naturally--is a "bust"). This was corrected for quite sometime by rebooting the unit and using a cleaning disk. Yet, lately this (and even popping open the case and physically cleaning the laser "eye" with alcohol) is not quite doing the trick...and the machine may work properly for as little as one disc...then BAM, the major dysfunction. Last night, we got through one complete disc, then two hours of another four hour format disc, then got the dreaded message. This time, we did get a "save" on the two hours (usually means a DOA disc..and all program content GONE), but this is very worrisome. Oh, playback function is flawless.

What I'd like to have is some explanation of why the problem. Does the playback function take less "ooph" than the laser BURNING function? Is there any extra stress on the unit when one uses the "pause" function a lot, as in skipping TV commercials, and working to record all episodes of a given TV series, one at a time? And, even more--perhaps--when one leaves the unit on "pause" overnight (which I have only very recently been doing on occasion)? Toshiba a couple of years ago said "No," but I am not completely convinced. Incidentally, last time I checked, Toshiba no longer had a “customer service” office for the USA. I’ve been very happy with their products, but this is RUDE.

Some tears are not very easily managed with a sewed on patch, and this might be a good solution.

I'm planning to return what was represented as a new custom i7 CPU computer, and seems like maybe is really an old Dell Studio XPS DT8100 (seems like I got conned), in a generic (not Dell) case (with a tired 1st Gen. i7 processor...2009)...that is not performing at all. If all else fails, would it be feasible to switch to a newer Intel CPU--and make a "win" out of this disaster? THANKS!!

I'm planning to return what was represented as a new custom i7 CPU computer, and seems like maybe is really an old Dell Studio XPS DT8100 (seems like I got conned), in a generic (not Dell) case (with a tired 1st Gen. i7 processor...2009)...that is not performing at all. If all else fails, would it be feasible to switch to a newer Intel CPU--and make a "win" out of this disaster?

Please keep in mind the reference directions on a sea-going vessel.

II have been told that my very recent vintage regular DVD recorder (which works like a champ, btw) should have no problem if the "Pause" feature is left on for extended periods of time (e.g., in waiting for another program to record on the same disk)...by the Toshiba tech. people, as the unit--they say--will go into safe "Standby” mode. Yet, I'd appreciate some clarification of this. Perhaps recent technology has really mastered this aspect of DVD recording, but logic tells me (in part, based on advice I've seen regarding DVD players in the past), that there might be wear imposed on the laser or on the motor, spelling shorter recorder life. Obviously, if this is the case, I'd be inclined to just record one or two programs, in close temporal proximity, and keep the use of "Pause" to a minimum (e.g., for elimination of commercials), and just go to “Finalize” (and go for a another disk for the next movie or TV episode). I’ve been mostly using DVD-R disks, which I have been able to snag for as little as $12 for a 50-count spindle (Fuji and LG brands), which is pretty d*mn cheap.

Apparently this model does not feature a HD (I had previously thought, on the assumption that it did, that the programs were being recorded on the HD and only later were burned onto the DVD disk: Not so). In case you had been wondering, this machine does not seem to go into “Sleep” mode after a period of time, even after an hour.

I will mention that there is an oddity in the (pretty complicated) manual, in that it cautions one to finalize a disk, after recording material to insure playability on another machine, but this is absurd (as far as I can determine), as one cannot even remove the disk from my unit w/o going through this process (occurs automatically upon pressing “Stop”).

Finally, when I asked the tech why my recorded movies would not play on my friend's playback machine, I was told that it was probably due to some compatibility issues with some brands of disks and some machines, not with the hardware. I have done some research online, but have not found very much on these particular these issues. THANKS.

Model: Toshiba DR430KU

E.g., I do very well with the DELL standard keyboard, but every laptop I have tried has awful keys, and I end up with all kinds of typing errors. Has no PC company not put any attention on this issue? This is driving me nuts.

I've found some good laptop deals lately, but--for me--this seems to be the "deal-breaker." THANKS.

HELP!!

I'm in the midst of a Logo Project and am stuck with an AI issue. I need to transfer some objects (vectorized word-copy) from one AI document to another document. I find I can do it with Copy/Paste (and have adjusted my Clipboard Preferences to AICB, which I thought might be the "missing ingredient"), but every time, it comes out in a form which has no stroke and fill. This is friggin nerve-wracking!! Tried dragging and "Place" too: Same result.

The palette shows a black stroke and blue fill (and sometimes a "?") but they do not show, and cannot be adjusted. THANKS.

Yes, I COULD redesign each of six object in my several mascot documents, but this would be a very inefficient way to operate. What--the h*ll--am I missing here? ; )

English usage, pronunciation, etc.

I understand that the details of the pope's death are very suspicious, and that his plans for the Church would have been pretty radical.

More to the point, what is this deal with guys taunting girls about being lesbians, when they see them display normal, nonsexual, affection?

My doctor tells me that most of us have systems that are too acid.

Model #ML-2510: Has worked perfectly for the last 2 years (seems warranty is over). The PC side of things seems OK. Printer shows "green," and makes the right noises, but at the very last minute, the paper transport seems inoperable, and then I get a "red." No paper-jam...or anything else I can see. Any ideas, please? Only light use...like for letters. THANKS!!

I seem to remember there are three or four of them.

What is the deal?